Expedia removes American Airlines' fares in support of Orbitz Expedia, an online travel agency, has removed fares from American Airlines in its search results in a show of support for competitor Orbitz, says travel technology blog Tnooz
BigTravelNews.info - Dec 26,2010 - Expedia, an online travel agency, has removed fares from American Airlines in its search results in a show of support for competitor Orbitz, says travel technology blog Tnooz.
Expedia confirmed to the site that it had "adjusted" the way the carrier's fares are displayed across its sites.
AA's flights are now displayed at the far end of Expedia's list of available airlines and its prices are not shown. Customers need to click on a link to a page elsewhere on the site to see AA's fares, whereas other carriers' prices are displayed on the initial result page.
The move follows AA's decision Tuesday to discontinue displaying and selling fares through Orbitz.
READ MORE: American Airlines yanks its flights off travel site Orbitz
ALSO ONLINE: Orbitz, American Airlines flap bad news for consumers
AA is seeking to drive more online customer traffic to its website and lower distribution costs. The carrier has created its own distribution channel called Direct Connect, and wants Orbitz and other travel agencies to get flight information directly from it rather than using the global distribution systems such as Travelport or Sabre. Travelport is the largest investor of Orbitz, which is publicly traded.
According to AA, Direct Connect "provides a direct link into AA's host reservation system to facilitate the availability, shopping and pricing, booking, ticketing, and post-ticketing servicing transactions."
In a statement, Expedia says it de-emphasized AA's fares to show support for Orbitz and in anticipation of a "possible disruption" in Expedia's ability to sell tickets from AA when its contract expires.
"We believe American Airlines' proposed direct connect model will result in higher costs and reduced transparency for consumers," Expedia says.
